Loss Of Language

[Andre Cramblit]

'Loss of Language and Culture'
 By Andrew Metz STAFF CORRESPONDENT

 It began in Carlisle, Pa. with the philosophy: Kill the Indian and save
the man.

This was the pedagogical mission of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School,
the model for a system of forced assimilation that plucked children from
reservations and tried to wipe out their native language and identity.

Founded in 1879 by Army Lt. Richard Henry Pratt, the government school was
the alma mater to more than 10,500 American Indians during its 39-year
existence, notably Olympic champion Jim Thorpe. For most Indian people,
though, it remains the grim touchstone of an era where their tribal ways
were shocked out of them.

http://www.newsday.com/ny-mohawk-side1109,0,5398756.story?coll=ny-top-headlines